I Love Pocketbooks!

Okay, so handbags are one of my weaknesses and I've not fallen in love with one lately. So, I made up one that has been in my stash of patterns for a long time. I used the silk remnants that I talked about in my last post and Vogue 8590. I am pretty happy with the result. It's an interesting shape and was not too hard to make up.

I used the black silk for the sides, handles and lining. The inside has some nice features -- a two-sided pocket on one side, with one of them pleated for a cell phone. The other side has a nice zippered compartment and I used the plaid silk for the inside of that pocket.

The sides each have a pocket -- I love outside pockets for keys, glasses -- all the things that you can never find in your purse!

I used a woven interfacing and wasn't sure I was going to have enough structure, so I ended up interfacing all pieces, except for the ties. I'm happy I did that. It has structure, but not the stiffness of using something like craft interfacing. The bottom calls for a piece of cardboard or plastic canvas. I used the canvas, but used two pieces since I wanted the bottom to be a little firmer. If this still isn't firm enough to keep the bottom from sagging a bit when loaded with sundries, I may add timtex. I don't like when a fabric bag droops.

The ruching on the front and back ended up being easy to do. Below is a picture of it before ruching. You simply made a pocket by doing to rows of stitching, an inch apart. You insert the length of elastic and stitch in the ditch on each side of secure it and voila!

I haven't decided if the ruching is a bit too tight. I'll have to live with it for a while. If it is, I may make the elastic just slightly longer when I make it again.